


you're gonna wanna be my best friend, baby

by yo_let_me_get_a_milkyway



Category: In the Heights - Miranda/Hudes
Genre: Drabble Collection, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:21:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26983564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yo_let_me_get_a_milkyway/pseuds/yo_let_me_get_a_milkyway
Summary: a drabble collection of some pre-relationship bensnavi. updated accordingly.
Relationships: Benny/Usnavi (In the Heights)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 15





	you're gonna wanna be my best friend, baby

Sometimes, Benny finds it hard to watch over Usnavi. 

There’s not really much of a need to, but Benny’s protective. Protective, in the good way that hovers over his best friend, making sure he’s okay and safe. Wings shielding him from the sun, burning a pleasant thrum in his heart everytime Usnavi does something. After the Blackout, or so they’ve dubbed it, Benny finds himself worrying about him. Him and his fragile emotional status, what with Abuela’s death, and his absolute refusal to take time and grieve. 

Which is why they’re at the club, at Usnavi’s insistence. It’s not their usual haunt, what with all the noise, and the bar is certainly the better place to get a drink. Usnavi isn't looking for a drink though, no, that’s never the reason they head to the club. It’s a place where they can let go, give themselves to the dance floor and let the haze of the neon lights dry out every thought they’d usually have over a whiskey, alcohol only deepening the effects of the facade he tries to put himself under. 

“You’re dying at 40,” Benny remarks, an ice water with a cute lime on the rim of the glass in his hands as Usnavi downs a whole row of shots. He’s drunk off his ass, he thinks, watching him begin to get all rattly and hyper. Prone to snap and fling himself around like a tightly drawn rubber band.

Usnavi scoffs at him. “Call it 45,” he throws back - “My parents didn’t die at 44 to not let me outlive them, you doofus.”

Benny winces. He’s definitely drunk, his mind helpfully supplies, because now Usnavi's talking about his parents in a way that he never would in a sober manner. He. takes a sip of his drink before shoving it in Usnavi’s general direction. “Drink this. At least hydrate with something other than an amaretto sour.”

There’s a roll to his shoulders as Usnavi takes the glass and sighs when the ice hits his throat. Benny pretends not to watch him, from the way he sighs into the glass relievedly, lips fogging up the rim of the beverage as the water trickles off the side messily. The water gets handed back to him and perhaps he’s a little awestruck, caught in a daze before Usnavi nudges him with his elbow and wiggles his eyebrows. You like what you see? It seems to ask. Benny rolls his eyes. He always has. 

A moment’s time passes before Usnavi is on the dance floor, getting lost in the sea of the crowd. It’s not like he’s drunk, but he thinks he could have some fun, so Benny steps onto the tile and fits himself in the crowd pleasingly. There are people grinding on him like always, He tries to ignore them. Keeping an eye out for a drunk hyper ball of energy was his main task at hand. 

Keeping an eye out for a drunk hyper ball of energy was also very easy, considering how he became the center of a dance circle. Usnavi pulled out a move Benny taught him, some mixture of disco, b-boy, and salsa, before pulling in two ladies to dance with him. Harmless, Benny assumes, before he settles on heading back to the bar for another ice water. The bartender eyes him. He shrugs - “I got a job to do, and I gotta keep sober while I do it.”

The man shrugs, getting him another water as Benny watches the dance floor. The center of it has dispersed, back to a rough sea of loud hip hop music and grinding. Usnavi’s towards the rightmost end of the dance floor, looking about halfway tired out through his dance before he’ll head back to Benny. Ha, he thinks. He’s just like a kid at a birthday party. 

But then there’s this guy tapping his shoulder, looking like he wants to speak to Usnavi. His hands are in his pocket, resting as he leans against the wall to speak to his best friend, before they come out and rest on his shoulder. This dude’s getting unsettlingly close to Usnavi, face close to his as his hips grind forward to meet Usnavi’s a little more pronounced than the normal grinding on the dance floor. It’s not only until Usnavi’s eyes are darting around that he gets up, no plan as he tries to confront this dude. 

“Hey Romeo!” Benny calls out, fists balled up protectively before the scene starts to take in. This looks exactly like the night of the blackout when he punched Jose, the lights on them as a couple of bystanders turn heads to see what’s going on. Okay, different approach then. 

He slings an arm over Usnavi’s shoulder like he usually does every morning he enters the bodega, or whenever he’s generally feeling protective. “Oy vey, why don’t you find a different partner to dance your little dance with? My man’s already got a date.”

And just like that, the man’s face shifts into fear. He knew that would work, it’s just like that scene out of Rush Hour, and the man goes scampering off, muttering something under his breath along the lines of “whatever, he wasn’t pretty enough anyway.” Benny, if he wasn’t in his right mind, would have the thought to go after him. Usnavi could be pretty. Or handsome, or great, whatever he wanted to be-

“Benny,” Usnavi called out from beside him, arm wrapping around his waist. “What the fuck was that?”

“He was going after you,” Benny grumbled, pulling him off the dance floor and back to where his water was waiting for him. The ice had melted, water going stale as Benny let Usnavi lean on him to sip from it. “You know I’m not letting you go off while you’re this drunk. We're headed home."

"Benny, I-"

"Uh bup bup! I don't wanna hear a peep of argument from you. Okay?"

"Fine."

"Good," Benny snorted gently, before leading him out with an arm around him. Usnavi was pretty small and he couldn't really hold his alcohol, so Benny let him sway back and forth while he decided that his place was closer. 

The walk began to quiet down a little, Benny finally reaching the street where his apartment was on. Usnavi was in that quiet sleepy state, the sulky moments where it began to sink in that he came to get drunk for a reason, and the reasons kept screaming at him like a screech in his brain. "We're here," Benny mumbled, squeezing Usnavi's shoulder as he unlocked the door and led them inside. 

Benny clicks on the lights in his bedroom, Usnavi behind him like a ghost of a presence. In the wake of all of this, every single night, there's a familiarity in the way Usnavi pulls his shirt off, stripping down to his boxers and getting in Benny's bed. Arguments of who takes the bed or the couch have already been quelled before - Usnavi's too tired to negotiate terms. It should be weird, but it isn't, not when they've known each other for so long. Still, Benny can't help but let his eyes run to the curve of Usnavi's back. 

Before he can escape to his spot on the couch, he grabs a few painkillers and a cup of water for Usnavi, laying them on the bedside table for tomorrow morning's easy hangover access. "Well," Benny gently comments. "I'll be out in the living room if you need me, lil homie. G'night."

He reaches over to get the lights before he feels something tug at his tank top. It's Usnavi, who else would it be, and he looks up at him with eyes droopy and sleepy and all too comfortable for the words he's saying. 

"Stay."

And it's strange, how Benny climbs in behind him. They've done this before, Usnavi needing to be held, Benny being the closest contender. Usnavi pulls the blankets up to his chin, tugging Benny's arm up so that he can hug it. It's endearing, watching Usnavi fall asleep slowly. Lips gently parted, eyes shut as his body rises and falls to a rhythm he's danced to for so long. "Night Benny," he sleepily mumbles, before he departs off into pleasant unconsciousness.

And it's also strange, how Benny swipes a curl of hair covering his face to plant a kiss on his forehead, careful impulse decision made before he finally rests in the crook between Usnavi's neck and shoulder. He can't seem to stop himself from giving him something, knowing it could mean his downfall if Usnavi was just a tad more awake. The lines crossed between friendship and something more, a line he wants to break and fly into like clouds shielding the sun. It's just a small indulgence, he'll tell himself as he settles in, eyes shutting as he lets his thoughts run even wilder. 

It's hard, watching over him, but if it means Usnavi's okay, he'll let himself burn.


End file.
